THE INDEX

Jan 29, 2007

1.04

A Movie to See Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci go roller-skating, get shit-faced, and have wild lesbian sex in Daytona Beach, Florida. Sounds delightful, right? Actually, no. In between all that good clean fun, Theron's character, a $30 hooker, murders her johns and steals their cars. Monster is raw, compelling, and based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, who was executed by the state of Florida in October 2002. Theron, who also produced, has never looked worse. But she's never performed better. In theaters this month.

Gratuitous Cable Who'da thought Richard Hatch could have rerun potential? Not us. And frankly, we still don't. But the evil geniuses behind Reality Central do. The all-reality channel will rebroadcast American favorites, premiere international programming, and unleash its own "news" shows and original series. Can it work? Hey, we were wrong about Joe Millionaire. Debuts January 15.

A Sequel to Play Back in '98, Half-Life sold eight million copies and garnered game-of-the-year honors from just about every publication that cares. The game's unlikely hero was Gordon Freeman, a middle-aged scientist armed with a crowbar. Five years later, Gordo's back in Half-Life 2.

Only this time, he's packing the Manipulator, which lets him throw furniture. Progress!

An Ode to Fandom Parking Lot is a rip-off of the '80s cult classic Heavy Metal Parking Lot. No one denies this, not even the producers. The idea is just too simple--and too brilliant--not to steal: interview fans in the parking lot before concerts and again a few hours (and 11 beers) later. Episode one (Motörhead, Cher) is pretty good. Episode two, filmed at a 50 Cent show in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is great. January 26 on Trio.

A Serious Book Enron, Henry Blodget, Jayson Blair, Little League fraud, Napster, Winona! Have we become a nation of cheaters? What happened to our sense of ethics? Where went our notions of right and wrong? David Callahan seeks answers in The Cheating Culture (Harcourt, $26), a damning and persuasive critique of America's new economic life. Don't steal it on January 26.

A Comic Book Spider-Man gets all the love, but Marvel's other big success story is its "Ultimate" series--hip reworkings of classic comics, updated and dropped into modern settings (thereby easing the transition to the screen). This month, the first family of dysfunction gets refreshed with Ultimate Fantastic Four, cowritten by critical favorite Brian Michael Bendis and the snarky Mark Millar. Expect jokes about the sexual possibilities open to an elastic man and his invisible wife and, naturally, a feature film next Christmas.

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